Dressing
the part of a future president

He didn’t look like a man who could be elected president
in 13 months.

Wearing a navy-blue shirt with sleeves rolled up, carefully pleated khaki pants
and brown penny loafers, he easily could have been your father or your high school
history professor.

Instead, the man with the carefully crafted message was Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.,
stumping in front of a few hundred UI students in September during one of many
stops
on his
college tour across America.

Days earlier, in an appearance in California, a different Kerry spoke to a group
of young professionals. But instead of "John Kerry, working man," the
image was "John Kerry, serious politician," wearing a navy blazer
and a red pin-striped tie.

Such attention to apparel is part of a carefully crafted image that candidates
create
when
running
for public office, UI political science assistant professor David Redlawsk said.

"Generally, you’re going to think about the nature of the place [you
are speaking to]," said Redlawsk, who recently completed a study on
candidate
image. “In the television age, the press makes a big deal out of image.”

For some young voters, the chameleon-like changes a politician undergoes seem
superficial and add to their growing disenchantment with the political process.

"I don't want a candidate to be sugarcoated, or feel like they have
to dress and act a certain way," said Justin Cloak, a UI junior. "I
want a candidate who is going to lay it all out there and who isn’t afraid
to ruffle some feathers along the way."

But since the late 1950s, when American voters began to be inundated with televised
election
coverage, a candidate’s
dress
and
appearance
have
played an important role.

Richard Nixon battled television when running for re-election against John Kennedy
in 1960. In the first televised debate, TV viewers declared Kennedy the
winner after watching a nervous, sweaty Nixon debate a controlled, smooth-talking
Kennedy.

Nixon’s television image – unnatural compared to Kennedy's – may
have cost him the election, campaign analysts said after his defeat.

In 1975, Jimmy Carter took a different approach, wearing sweaters instead of
jackets and ties for campaign appearances. Campaign pundits wrote Carter off
for his easy-going approach – based solely on his lack of a shirt and tie. Voters
obviously felt differently.

Kim Rubey, a campaign official with the John Edwards campaign, said the issues
are what really resonate with voters, but image is important, too.

Her candidate, a young-looking 50-year-old freshman senator, has faced voters
who think he is too inexperienced, in politics and in general.

"You always want the television image to portray the real candidate," Rubey
said. "I certainly think a candidate's appearance in newspapers or
on television sparks interest. Every time voters are introduced to Sen. Edwards,
we want the image to be polished and professional."

Edwards isn't afraid to appeal to his humble beginnings to project an image,
either. In TV ads aired across Iowa, viewers see Edwards wearing a blue-collared
shirt, talking about his
own blue-collar beginnings and projecting the image of a working man.

Edwards' national media consultant, David Axelrod, said he adjusts his
candidates' presentation to what they are most comfortable with.

For some, the "every-man" approach is harder to pull off. Campaign
flyers of career politician Kerry sitting on a tractor, wearing a denim shirt,
were almost laughable to the UI's Redlawsk.

"You want to
project
an
image
that
fits,
but he didn’t look comfortable
[posing]," Redlawsk said.

Comfort level with images also was an issue in the 1988 presidential campaign,
when a rigid-looking Michael Dukakis sat in a tank, wearing a poor-fitting helmet
and military fatigues. Although this image ran in a negative ad by Bush supporters,
the damage was done for Dukakis, portrayed as being incapable of handling the
U.S. military.

"It’s an inevitable thing for human beings," Redlawsk said. "We
react quickly to image and pry a lot of information from it. The goal of a campaign
is to project the best possible image. If it's different from who the candidate
really is, it's equivalent to lying about anything else."

At a steak fry sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, on Sept. 13, candidates
tromped
through
the
mud
of
an
Indianola balloon field to speak to Iowans about their views. There
were
no
ties on this crowd, including former president Bill Clinton, dressed in denim
and
a deep-blue button-down shirt.

This relaxed approach in Iowa is because of a common misconception that everyone
who lives in Iowa is a farmer,
Redlawsk
said.

UI student and University Democrats President Megan Heneke said
this carefully
crafted image can be taken too far at times.

"Watching Dick Gephardt in a pie-eating contest or John Kerry’s barnstorming
Iowa tour, they are appealing to quintessential Iowa," Heneke said. "Sometimes
it's cute and fun, but it's all about creating an image."

And appealing to the image they think is Iowa --all in order to get votes from
Iowans.

"Iowans are greedy," Heneke said. "We want to see the candidates
a lot. The candidates tailor their image to give Iowans what they want."

Even if it takes wearing a plaid shirt and perching on some carefully placed
farm machinery.